Sam River’s Final Note R.I.P.

Jazz Giant Sam River’s Passes Away.

I was so sad to hear of the passing of Sam Rivers at 88 years of age on December 26, 2011. He was an iconoclastic musician who came up in the free jazz days and cut through that scene with music blazing in serrated slices. I got to see Sam play with his trio a dozen times since the early 1970s, many of them at the legendary Foxhole Cafe in Philadelphia with eh trio of Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. I had the pleasure of producing a Jazz Profile documentary for NPR on Sam in 2000. Unfortunately it’s not available to stream. No one blew harder or with more passion. Few could equal his stream of consciousness improvisations and his writing for large ensemble never got it’s due. Nice obituary here. I’m sure more will follow.

Here’s a video with one of his great trios with Thurman Barker & Dave Holland.